Engine-cooling system



Aug. 2o, 1929.

A. F. WINTERCORN ENGINE COOLING SYSTEM Filed Sept. l1, 1924 PatentedAug. 20, 1929.

UNITED STATES ANDREW F. WINTERCORN, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

ENGINE-COOLING SYSTEM.

Application led September 11, 1924. Serial No. 737,'195.

' cooling for operation in warm weather or in a warm climate. Thus theinvention provides an engine having air cooling lins of a number andsize to give suicient cooling for 4operation in the cold months whenwater would be apt to freeze, and having in ad dition to the air-coolingfins that would by themselves be inadequate for cooling in the warmmonths, means for water cooling which provides circulating cooling Huidabout the cooling fins, th'e obvious purpose in the foregoing provisionsbeing to utilize each of the twotypes of cooling in the seasons Wherethey are most advantageous and of least disadvantage.

One of thel principal objects of the invention consists in providing anengine having air-cooling ns for air-cooling in cold Weather, and havinga sheet metal enclosing jacket to provide water-cooling in warm weather,which is arranged to be kept on always or, if desired, removed and keptoff in cold Weather, the purpose being to secure onl air cooling in coldWeather Where less cooling is needed and to secure the additionalcooling effect of the water or other li uid cooling medium in warmweather, w en more cooling is needed.

.ii important object of the invention relating to the engineconstruction involved in accomplishing the foregoing objects, consistsin providing a sheet metal water jacket for enclosing finned cylinderwalls, which is secured with a water tight joint in the fastening downof the cylinder' head, and is at the same time connected with thecylinder head to have cooling fluid circulate therebetween.

Still another object of the invention resides in the provision on theengine of an upper annular flange and a lower annular flange above andbelow the cooling fins on the cylinder walls, the upper flange providinga place for attachment for the cylinder head and for securing the waterjacket into connection with the cylinder head, While the lower flangeprovides a place for the attachment and sealing of the lower end of thewater jacket and also a convenient place for a permanent water jackethose connection.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are set forth in thefollowing dethe invention.

Fig. l of the drawing is a cross section through one cylinder of anengine constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of the improved coolingsystem.

.Air-cooled engines of the present standard form are designed toapproach, as nearly as possible, proper cooling in warm weather, andwhen so designed have been found to be overcooled in cold weather, orwhere a mediumis struck, thecooling is not sufficient in warm weatherand usually excessive in cold weather, so much so that it is commonlyknown that air-cooled engines quickly overheat n the summer andlcommenceto knock if operated under even a momentary heavy load. They are furtherknown to be subject to the objection of being overcooled in the Wintermonths to an extent that there is an appreciable loss of economy.Furthermore, these engines are notorious for being hard to start in coldweather when designed to operate the year around with air-cooling..

Water-cooled engines on the other hand are designed to secure averagegood performance in warm weather. However, in cold weather the engine isovercooled and there is a resultant loss of economy. Besides, there isthe ever present danger of freezing which may cause serious damageeither to the engine or the radiator. This danger is present even wherealcohol and other so-called non-freeze solutions are used, sincev thesepass off at low temperatures giving a characteristic foul odor, and themotorist can never be certain that the concentration of non-freezingsolution is sufficient to prevent freezing. In the absence of the use ofnon-freezing solutions, it is of course necessary to drain the systemwhere the car is left standing for -even a short time. When no antifreeze solution is used there is danger of freezing even Whilev the caris in operation. This usually occurs in the lower hose connection wherethe water in the radiator is at the lowest temperature.

Tlie present invention aims to. avoid as far as possible thedisadvantagesin each of the above mentioned systems, While retaining asfar as possible the advantages. Thus the invention provides air-coolingin cold Weather when it isof decided advantage not to have to use afreezable circulating cooling about theair cooling fins.

y as applied to an en liquid such as water, and provides watercooling inwarm Weather at which time it is not a serious inconvenience,particularly since there is no possibility of the water freezing. Theinvention provides air cooling means designed with special referenceonly to cold weather operation, no special concern being given thematter of warm weather operation, since at that time the cooling isaugmented by water circulating With this arrangement, only a relativelysmall amount of cooling fluid is required since especially good coolingis secured through the transmission of heat from the cylinderwalls tothe circulating water by the cooling fins. The manner of application ofthe invention is incidentally of advantage where the jacket is removedin that -it necessitates the removal of the cylinder head at least oncea year, when the jacket is removed or replaced. This affords anopportunity for inspection of the valves and c linder walls and for theremoval of the carlion present. The added operation involved in removingthe water 'acket or replacing the same as the case may e, is hardly ofany consequence, being far less involved than the removal o'rreplacement of the cylinder head itself and being actually only anincident to that operation.

Referring now to the drawing, the engine cylinder 1 illustrated, may beone of a group of cylinders cast en bloc, or may be a separately castcylinder. However, for convenience, the invention is illustrated in Fig.2 vine having the cylinders cast together and fastened as a unit on thecrankcase 2. The piston 3, connecting rod 4, and crankshaft 5 shown areentirely conventional. The head 6' has valve cages 7 secured therein inthe usual manner as illustrated. The valves 8 operating in the cages 7are opened by the rockers 9, in turn operated by push rods 10, all beingof a conventional form. In order to facilitate the application of thewater jacket shown at 1,1, the spark plug 12 is mounted in a recess 13in the head 6, and the intake manifold 14 and exhaust manifold 15 aresupported solely from the head. Thus, in thel application of the waterjacket, there is avoided the necessity of fitting the jacket about sparkplug openings and thelike, since these all occur in the head. Also,while the invention is intended for general application to all types ofengines, it is most conveniently applicable to engines of the overheadvalve type, as will be apparent on inspection.

The water jacket 11 is suitably of sheet metal, 'such' as co per orothernon-corrosive metal, capable o being brought to the form of thejacket illustrated.` The jacket fits down over the engine block over theedges of an annular flange 16 thereon. The top wall 17 of the jacket hasopenings 18 to able packing material, and faced with a thin sheet ofcopper or the like on both sides to furnish a gasket for the cylinderhead in the manner indicated. Thecylinder head 6 is secured by bolts 22to the flange, the bolts being entered through the head in the usualWay. If desired, the flange may be provided of slightly greater width tohave the jacket 1l bolted orotherwise secured thereto about the head,the latter being fastened directly to the flange. This would obviate thenecessity for removing the head when removing the jacket. The lower endof the jacket 11 is flanged outwardly as shown' at 23 and rests upon alower annular flange 24 on the engine block. The flange 16 and theflange 24 are both continuous about the entire block. The flange 24 hasan annular groove 25 into which the flange 23 is pressed as shown,together with gasketing material similar to that under the cylinderhead, by means of a frame 26 which has an annular rib 27 and is boltedas by means of bolts 28 to the flange 24.

-The flange 24 provides a convenient place The location of the lowerhose connection 29 at the place shown obviates the necessity forremoving the same when the water jacket is removed. In a similar way theconventional location ofthe upper hose connection 30 is of advantage. y

The actual additional operation involved in applying or removing thewater jacket, outside of the operations necessarily involved in removingthe cylinder head is obviously of no considerable consequence. Thejacket and its fastening means fit down over the cylinder block andthere is involved only a simple bolting operation. When the water jacketis removed, a conventional type gasket will be used under the cylinderhead and the cylinder head bolted down to the flange 16, in uite thesame way as cylinder heads are ord1narily bolted down to the engineblock.

If desired, a separate air-cooled head may top of the cylinders wherethere is greatest need for cooling. The jacket l1 is also enlarged atthis point as shown for a similar purpose. The ribs 3l in accordancewith the present concept, it should be understood, need not be of a sizeor in numbers, such as will afford the radiating surface ofan alleararound continuously operated air-cooledy engine, but instead should bedesigned only with reference to continuous operation in cold Weather,preferabl water so cold that the jacket water would reeze if it wereused. In warm weather, any deficiency in cooling effect is made up bythe water cooling provided as above stated. The head 6 is also providedwith cooling ns as shown at 32 on the outside of its inner wall andpreferably also about the valve cages 7. To facilitate the production ofheads of this construction it would perhaps be found expedient to castthe heads in upper and lower halves and Weld the halves together asindicated at 33. Here again it willbe understood that the ribs 32 aredesigned only with reference-to cooling f the cylinder head in coldweather independently of any circulating cooling water. In warm weatherthe cooli effect is increased by the use of circliiIatin cooling water,as above stated. When cooling water is circulated through the jacket l1and through the head 6 about the air-cooling tins 3l and 32, there isideal transmission of heat from the cylinder walls and the head to thecooling Water. As a result the water jacket need not have the capacityordinarily required in conventional water cooled engines, nor need thejacket be as elaborate in construction. It will be understood that atall times the usual cooling fan 84 provided between the radiator 35 andthe engine may be kept in operation.

In operation, the motorist will vordinarily keepgthe jacket filled withwater until there lis actual danger of the water freezing. If he desiresto dispense with the advantages the invent-ion affords of the use oftheaircooling for such time he may leave the water in the-jacket andobserve the usual precautions` ,against freezing. Where the cold Weatheris at all persistent, or when the car is to be used to any great extent,it is obviously of considerable advantage to be able to rely only on aircooling and dispense with the bother and worry going with the use of theWater cooling. Onthe other hand it will be understood that the jacketmay be removed and the air-cooling will be ordinarily adequate for evencontinuous operation in moderately cool weather without havmay bedrained from the radiator and the hose connections opened. .Theair-cooling may then be afforded simply by the air entering the loweropened hose connection and leaving the upper opened hose connection. Or,if so'desired,`a blower fan operated from the engine may furnish aforced draught through the lower hose connection. Under s uehconditions, the only difference in the cooling in the different seasonsis the use of water instead lof air circulating about the air-coolingfins. It will be seen that a car having a Water pump driven from theengine on a countershaft may be provided, on the same shaft preferablywith a fan having a detachable coupling connection to be o rated, whenthe pump is disconnected. hus there would be involved only a simpleinterchanging of the lower hose connection from the water pump to thefan or vice versa accompanied with the coupling of the fan and theuncoupling of the pump or vice versa as the case may be.

While I have described the invention as applied to a specic embodimentit is to be understood that it is not so limited but is capable ofconsiderable modification, and that all adaptations and modificationscoming within the spirit and scope of the invention are to be understoodas covered by the appended claims, excepting only in so far as the priorart may limit their construction.

I claim:

l. An engine comprisinga cylinder having air-cooling fins, a water.jacket removably enclosing the same, and a removable head having a waterjacket to cooperate with said cylinder jacket, said head beingair-cooled when said cylinder jacket is removed.

.2. In an internal combustion engine, a convertible air or water cooledcylinder provided with ins suiiicient to effect air cooling of thecylinder under low temperature weather conditions, and a removablejacket enclosing said cylinder and fins and provided with watercirculating connections, for use under high 'temperature weatherconditions. 3. In an internal combustion engine, a

convertible air or water cooled cylinder provided with fins sufficientto effect air cooling of the cylinder fin extremely cold weather, and ajacket enclosing said cylinder and fins and provided with inlet andoutlet connections adapted for the circulation of water throughthe.jacket aboutthe cylinder and fins for the cooling of the cylinder inwarm weather or moderately cold weather.

In testimony whereof Iaflix my signature.

ing to replace the jacket for water cooling.

It will be seen that in winter the water ANDREW F. WINTERCORN.

